Um, I don't mean to sound like a lemming here but I believe most of what cig has writen. Nothing seems too embellished. He has a garmin gps system that tracks his speed as well as a bike computer. The gps system lets him link it to his pc and get accurate data from my understanding.

My own cheapo shwinn computer will tell me my top speed, average speed, time and so on for my current trip. But it would be nice to get data like cig does. But it's not that valuable to me to actually go spend the $$$.

As for this bike, you dont' own one, you obviously are a lbs biased bicyclist who thinks you can't get anything good unless it comes from a LBS or it has a big name brand associated with it. Really you are a lemming in the grand scheme of things. No one here is saying go buy this bike and avoid lbs's, craigs list, yard sales or whatever. This is just one option. If I rode flat surfaces all the time instead of all the hill climbing i have to do I'm sure i'd average 20... and I'm 17 pounds over weight.

This may blow your mind but some lbs out in cali actually have this very bike. It's about $50 more there. You can find em online. Real shops that have an online side that also sell these bikes. Amazing.

I bought this bike before ever finding this thread. I researched it... it would do what i wanted without having to spend $500+ which is what they LBS here had for their lowest end bike (which wasn't even a road bike, it was some cruiser thing). The weight seemed comparable to the Shwinn Varsity that I was considering as well. The Denali seemed a bit more comfy.

Overall I've adjusted the seat height, stem height, brake pads, front derailur and back cassette/deraileur thing, and I adjusted the brakes so they had a little more clamping power. Sure I could have paid the lbs a $100 or whatever to do the work... but it seemed like pretty simple work to me. The shifting is pretty buttery smooth now

Anyone with a tiny amount of skill with a screwdriver, allan wrench and a crecent wrench could handle the adjustments I made. It doesn't take an lbs to adjust your seat height or anything else.

So the bike weighs 26 pounds. Big deal. It's better than my 40 pound 18 speed mtb.

It didnt' brake the bank & let me see if I'd enjoy riding a road bike. Infact it turned me on to road bikes in general.

Oh and my roadie friend that I ride with on thursdays (who rides a super nice Cannondale road bike) said he was impressed by my bike. Even after 20 miles of riding if I hit a good slight downhill I'll push the pace up to 25... which makes for a good fun ride.

I see no reason to steer someone clear of this bike. The obvious things that need adjusted are there... and hey even LBS's sometimes set the brake pads too low or too high or put a seat too high or low.. or whatever. It's nice being able to adjust without needing to first go somewhere to get someone else to turn the little wrench for you.

I'm biased against spoiled people that don't do anything for themselves.